http://www.ft.com/Financial TimesThe White House said it was considering an "orderly" bankruptcy for the US's stricken auto companies in its clearest warning yet that General Motors or Chrysler could be forced to file for Chapter 11 protection or similar measureshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200812504486822008-12-18T12:40:37.0000000-05:00Bearish reaction to Opec's 2.2m barrel production cut, with crude prices tracking multi-year lows even as the dollar continued to weaken http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200810212586622008-12-18T10:08:41.0000000-05:00FedEx said it would cut executive salaries and freeze hiring in 2009 as it expects economic conditions to worsenhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200810264386642008-12-18T09:01:20.0000000-05:00PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young, three of the 'big four' accountants, and an arm of BDO International, the fifth largest, were all auditors of the feeder funds which channelled money into Madoff fundshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200808264486502008-12-18T08:11:42.0000000-05:00German business confidence has plunged to its lowest since the early 1980s, highlighting the speed of the country's industrial collapsehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200805511786332008-12-18T05:34:18.0000000-05:00The airlines have put out a joint statement announcing that after detailed discussions they had not been able to proceed with what many had judged a bold gamble to accelerate consolidation in the global airline industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200802272386072008-12-18T02:16:05.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff, the New York broker accused of perpetrating an alleged $50bn fraud, was placed under home detention with electronic monitoring by a US judgehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200816032985392008-12-17T20:45:19.0000000-05:00Constellation Energy opted for the risks of an independent future over the certainty of ownership by US billionaire Warren Buffett after agreeing to sell 50 per cent of its nuclear business to its biggest shareholder, EDF of France, for $4.5bn.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200816450885442008-12-17T20:12:41.0000000-05:00Chrysler said it would shut all 30 of its plants for at least a month in the latest sign of the growing travails of the US auto industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200819085485792008-12-17T19:46:36.0000000-05:00Chrysler said it would shut all 30 of its plants for at least a month in the latest sign of the growing travails of the US auto industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200819085485792008-12-17T19:46:36.0000000-05:00The governor of Illinois accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat will not use his constitutional powers to appoint anyone to replace the president-electhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511785762008-12-17T18:41:29.0000000-05:00The governor of Illinois accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat will not use his constitutional powers to appoint anyone to replace the president-electhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511785762008-12-17T18:41:29.0000000-05:00The fund, believed to be the biggest single loser in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50bn "Ponzi" scheme is considering suing PwC, its own accountants, for failing to detect the fraud, as victims start looking for deep-pocketed sources of compensation for their losseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511685732008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00Partners at Goldman Sachs are set to see their bonuses fall by up to 80% and the cash component of their year-end packages capped at $400,000, with the rest paid half in stock and half in optionshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511785752008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00Partners at Goldman Sachs are set to see their bonuses fall by up to 80% and the cash component of their year-end packages capped at $400,000, with the rest paid half in stock and half in optionshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511785752008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00The dollar and sterling plunged and government bond yields in the US and Europe fell to multi-decade lows as investors tried to digest the implications of the Federal Reserve's new near-zero interest rate policy.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814562785142008-12-17T16:58:04.0000000-05:00Constellation Energy opted for the risks of an independent future over the certainty of ownership by US billionaire Warren Buffett after agreeing to sell 50 per cent of its nuclear business to its biggest shareholder, EDF of France, for $4.5bn.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200816450885442008-12-17T16:32:17.0000000-05:00Competition Commission calls for operator to be broken up and three of its seven UK airports – Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh – to be soldhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200815504485372008-12-17T15:35:29.0000000-05:00The struggling electronics company's move adds to a growing list of US companies that have retreated on pension promises as the slumping economy has put pressure on financeshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814211084962008-12-17T14:48:08.0000000-05:00The dollar and sterling plunged and government bond yields in the US and Europe fell to multi-decade lows as investors tried to digest the implications of the Federal Reserve's new near-zero interest rate policy.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814562785142008-12-17T14:44:21.0000000-05:00Fears that other banks may follow example over 'hybrid-capital' instrumentshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814451285072008-12-17T14:30:20.0000000-05:00Fears that other banks may follow example over 'hybrid-capital' instrumentshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814451285072008-12-17T14:30:20.0000000-05:00A 'savage' downturn in markets in November plunged Morgan Stanley into a bigger-than-expected $2.2bn loss in the fourth quarter, as the bank's trading, advisory and prime brokerage operations were hit hardhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200810324984462008-12-17T12:45:24.0000000-05:00The Opec oil cartel announced a further – and record – 2.2m barrels a day cut on top of the 2m b/d it had pledged since September in an attempt to shore up falling oil prices. http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811204384512008-12-17T11:57:10.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff, the New York financier accused of perpetrating an alleged $50bn fraud, was ordered by a US judge to be detained in his Manhattan apartment as his bail hearing was postphoned for a second timehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811332884522008-12-17T11:23:49.0000000-05:00Morgan Stanley reported a fourth quarter loss of $2.2bn this morning, or $2.24 per share, leading to year-end totals of $1.8bn in profits and $1.54 in earnings per sharehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200810324984462008-12-17T09:01:48.0000000-05:00Wall Street stocks were set to retreat from their monthly high as euphoria over the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut to virtually zero fadedhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200808570484302008-12-17T08:50:37.0000000-05:00Oil prices jumped almost $2 to $45.40 a barrel as Saudi Arabia said the Opec oil cartel had agreed in principle to cut a record amount of its production to help counter falling demandhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200806383284132008-12-17T06:41:29.0000000-05:00In spite of massive production cuts, the Japanese carmaker's inventories are piling up due to a shrinking global demand for cars, prompting it to issue its third profit warning this yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200809571084412008-12-17T03:11:29.0000000-05:00The currency's growing strength puts pressure on the Bank of Japan to cut interest rates from their current level 0.3 per cent to 0.1 per cent at its meeting that starts on Thursdayhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200823504483842008-12-16T23:36:42.0000000-05:00The investment and corporate banking operations are to be combined in yet another attempt by the US financial conglomerate to break down barriers between its businesseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200819142283592008-12-16T22:11:32.0000000-05:00Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has called for an investigation of his own agency, saying there were previous multiple failures to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Bernard Madoffhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200822142783762008-12-16T21:59:57.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff left behind a trail of 'falsified' and 'unreliable' records, hampering efforts by investigators to unravel the mystery of the $50bn "Ponzi" scheme allegedly perpetrated by the New York broker, officials said http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200820022183642008-12-16T20:14:54.0000000-05:00Steve Jobs made an 11th-hour withdrawal from Apple's main event of the year, prompting concern about the chief executive's health and the readiness of the company's new productshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200819323983612008-12-16T19:19:55.0000000-05:00The investment and commercial banking operations are to be combined in yet another attempt by the US financial conglomerate to break down barriers between its businesseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200819142283592008-12-16T19:01:44.0000000-05:00Extremely low short-term interest rates in the US are sharply eroding the functioning of the government repurchase or repo market, a foundation stone for the financial system and trading Treasury debthttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200818443783562008-12-16T18:33:02.0000000-05:00David Paterson, the New York politician catapulted into the state governor's chair in the wake of a sex scandal earlier this year, faces one of the most unenviable tasks of the presidential transition – navigating perilous dynastic politics to find a replacement for Senator Hillary Clintonhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200816443283292008-12-16T16:35:05.0000000-05:00The US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates from 1 per cent to a new range of 0-0.25 per cent.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200814510182902008-12-16T14:35:47.0000000-05:00Best Buy, the world's largest consumer electronics retailer, said it would cut back new store openings and half capital spending next year in response to the consumer slowdown.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200811033182182008-12-16T10:52:37.0000000-05:00Prices in the US fell by 1.7 per cent in November as the plunging value of oil and deep discounts from retailers drove down the cost of living, the department of labour saidhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809265882042008-12-16T09:14:56.0000000-05:00Wall Street stocks were set for a lower start after figures from Goldman Sachs and more economic data provided fresh insight into difficulties facing financial institutions and the scale of the recessionhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809212582032008-12-16T09:05:34.0000000-05:00Goldman Sachs reported a loss of $2.12bn, or $4.97 per share, for the fourth quarter, its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809032482022008-12-16T08:52:45.0000000-05:00The dollar edged higher against the euro on Tuesday after posting sharp losses in the previous session as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200807203381732008-12-16T07:10:24.0000000-05:00Opec's two most hawkish members, called on the cartel to double the number of barrels it has already promised to withhold from the market as oil prices continued to trade far below the group's pain thresholdhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200807562881982008-12-16T06:42:12.0000000-05:00The biggest shareholder in the UK-listed online gambling company has agreed to plead guilty to a charge relating to illegal web bettinghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200819093281302008-12-15T18:57:57.0000000-05:00Democrats and Republicans are trading accusations over the failure last week of talks to help the US car industry, in a dispute that could shape the future of Detroithttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200818505781222008-12-15T18:36:26.0000000-05:00Some of Germany's largest companies are to pledge to avoid mass job cuts as part of Berlin's second multibillion-euro fiscal stimulus package to be unveiled early next yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200817144880972008-12-15T17:00:29.0000000-05:00President-elect Barack Obama's office said that it had avoided 'inappropriate discussions' with Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois governor arrested last week on corruption charges, in a statement that left unanswered questions about the extent of contacts between the two men's staffs.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200819271781342008-12-15T16:41:41.0000000-05:00The dollar weakened amid weak monthly US industrial output data and unease over the Federal Reserve meeting that concludes on Tuesdayhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200816151880902008-12-15T16:01:03.0000000-05:00New York state could impose an 'obesity tax' on high-calorie soft drinks such as non-diet versions of Coke and Pepsi as public concerns over obesity turn potentially fattening foods into a politically acceptable target for taxationhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200815270080692008-12-15T15:09:37.0000000-05:00